Family Medicine- a true buyer's market

[Clue]

As I review our match list and the match statistics for FM as a whole, I am very disappointed. Although we did fill, we went way down to the bottom of our rank list. Family medicine has become a buyer's market indeed.
The advice you give medical students on how to match into a good program has always been - do a sub-I there, make yourself known. Interestingly, there was a girl who did a sub-I at my program who was from a real good school, rubbed a few people the wrong way by coming in late - and didn't end up being ranked.
So my advice to medical students who want to match into a specific FM program. Don't rotate at the program, just put together as good of an application as you can (even if you fail your boards once or twice), rank them #1 and you have a 97% chance of matching.

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[thirteen]

i'd have to agree...it does seem like a buyer's market...

our program, affiliated with a fairly prestigious allopathic medical school, got a really great applicant (great board scores and grades from a very good school) with one slot but a majority of our slots are filled with FMG's and DO's (neither of which are bad but not really at the caliber of our program)...kind of stinks if you ask me

 

[PACtoDOC]

i'd have to agree...it does seem like a buyer's market...

our program, affiliated with a fairly prestigious allopathic medical school, got a really great applicant (great board scores and grades from a very good school) with one slot but a majority of our slots are filled with FMG's and DO's (neither of which are bad but not really at the caliber of our program)...kind of stinks if you ask me

That really pisses me off that you would say that about DO's. So are you saying that your program settled by taking DO's? Here are my lowly DO stats asshol*.

USMLE 232/94
COMLEX 715/99
Rank 2/124
GPA 95.05

Please enlighten all of us and let us know what school you are so we don't taint your applicant pool next year with more unqualified DO's like myself.

Just curious, how many MD applicants did you have with my stats this year, and how many did you land?

MD=DO, especially in the FP domain. I would argue we are actually better suited for FP than MD's. Sorry you guys had to settle for DO's. You really piss me off you. I hope the caliber of your program is somewhere in the 9mm range and I hope it continues to misfire!!

 

[bigfrank]

I agree with PACtoDOC, the only reason that FP is a "buyer's market" in terms of residency placement is because there are so many spots. Good programs still have their choice of applicants. If Derm had as many spots (or even HALF as many), Derm would be a cakewalk to match into -- but that's another debate for another time.....

DO's match into great programs in every specialty every year. Programs generally look at the applicant. Someone from a Caribbean medical school matched at Brigham & Women's this year in Rads and there are many success stories every year. A DO on this board landed a coveted spot at USC in Rads as well.

Good luck to all...

 

[iatrosB]

MD=DO, especially in the FP domain. I would argue we are actually better suited for FP than MD's. Sorry you guys had to settle for DO's. You really piss me off you. I hope the caliber of your program is somewhere in the 9mm range and I hope it continues to misfire!!

I would have to agree that a properly trained DO (one that actually paid attention in OMT lab) is MORE qualified than a normal MD applicant. The options and treatments that OMT provides the DO is amazing. It does't help in all specialties, but really does in FP. From the allopathic world, pactodoc, I appologize.

 

[FMbound]

That really pisses me off that you would say that about DO's. So are you saying that your program settled by taking DO's? Here are my lowly DO stats asshol*.

USMLE 232/94
COMLEX 715/99
Rank 2/124
GPA 95.05

Please enlighten all of us and let us know what school you are so we don't taint your applicant pool next year with more unqualified DO's like myself.

Just curious, how many MD applicants did you have with my stats this year, and how many did you land?

MD=DO, especially in the FP domain. I would argue we are actually better suited for FP than MD's. Sorry you guys had to settle for DO's. You really piss me off you. I hope the caliber of your program is somewhere in the 9mm range and I hope it continues to misfire!!

With that attitude, I'm sorry I had to settle for FP. Chill out.

 

[thirteen]

hey pac to doc --

chill out...i'm just not a believer in filling out over half the spots of a allopathic training program with non-MD's. i think there are many very good osteopaths and FMG's...many better than american md's.

oh and by the way, you can add thirty points to your Step 1 score and you get the board score of our top guy (who is coming to the program) from a darn good school where he is top 5 in his class (just wanted to do FP).

 

[thirteen]

oh yeah -- and i actually feel bad for a program that may get you pac to doc...although you have done well in osteopath school, your attitude here is somewhat scary and militant...

i meant we didn't get good osteopaths or fmg's...not that good osteopaths and fmg's don't exist...

 

[pbmax]

At the risk of alienating some, I can see where thirteen is coming from on this one. I believe allopaths and osteopaths can work side by side with no difference what so ever. What is different however is the medical theory so to speak that each subscribes to. If you go to osteopathic school, I firmly believe you should go to an osteopathic residency and the same holds true for allopaths. Introducing osteopathic medicine into an allopathic program, although enlightening, is not necessarily what allopaths are interested in or looking for when applying to residency.

DO=MD no doubt but different philosophies of medicine do not necessarily need to mix in training programs.

And PAC to DOC, I found your response inappropriate. If you truly believe in the equality of osteopaths, then why flaunt your scores and rank. There are very good and qualifed allopathic folks going into family medicine with equal and better statistics than yourself.

 

[iatrosB]

your attitude here is somewhat scary and militant...

He is former military

 

[gwyn779]

As I review our match list and the match statistics for FM as a whole, I am very disappointed. Although we did fill, we went way down to the bottom of our rank list. Family medicine has become a buyer's market indeed.
The advice you give medical students on how to match into a good program has always been - do a sub-I there, make yourself known. Interestingly, there was a girl who did a sub-I at my program who was from a real good school, rubbed a few people the wrong way by coming in late - and didn't end up being ranked.
So my advice to medical students who want to match into a specific FM program. Don't rotate at the program, just put together as good of an application as you can (even if you fail your boards once or twice), rank them #1 and you have a 97% chance of matching.

I'd have to disagree. Maybe the programs I wanted were more competitive than most. Or maybe I'm the only one who'll admit matching at a place I ranked 4th. But since I posted my rank list on here, I don't see why not. Or I'm just naive or in denial.

Anyway, at least one of the programs I really wanted (my top 3) filled mostly with people who had done AI's there. I didn't. Which is fine, because I had no clue where I wanted to go until recently, so I couldn't pick a place to do an AI. My advice would be if someone wants to match at a specific program to rotate at the program and don't be stupid enough to mess up, for example by coming in late.

 

[PACtoDOC]

He is former military

Damn straight, 8 solid years of hard corp military membership and proud of it. It says something about my character and I make no apologies for replying with a well thought out defense on an anonymous internet thread where prejudice allopathic students talk out their ass*s.

Hey 13, you want to share your stats with us? Please enlighten us and let us know why such a prestigious program had to settle not only for FMG's, but for you? Your attitide was so apparent in your original reply that nothing you can say here will reverse that type of stance. Its obvious you think MD's are more qualified than DO's. I will never back down from anyone who claims that DO's should not be in allopathic residencies.

Let me give you a little clue as well. It is the allopathic program directors shelling out the tens of thousands of dollars to recruit DO faculty, to become dually accredited, and to attract us lowly DO's. I hate to tell you this, but in the next 5 years, you will be very hard pressed to find a majority of AAFP programs that are not both AOA and ACGME accredited. Then you won't be able to say that they are solely your programs.

And hey 13, so what that you landed ONE single person that had stats better than mine. Wow freaking wow!! I applaud this person for choosing FP over millions of future dollars. What I normally find is that it takes a less arrogant MD or MD student to embrace the DO world, and ironically it is usually that person with the 260+ on the USMLE. Just ask my buddy BigFrank how well he did and ask him what he thinks about DO's. He knows what we are made of!!

And 13, perhaps you could jump ship and take a board exam than is not your own, like our COMLEX, and still beat out the vast majority of DO's. Do you think you could do it? Did you happen to see what my score was on my own board exam compared to all other DO's in the nation? I worked damn hard to get where I am and I chose the DO route because I truly felt that being a DO would be better for my future patients than being an MD. I have no doubt now!!!

One last thing 13, you still have not ID's your prestigious program have you? You afraid, or do you simply realize that your opinions would not be appreciated by your fellow residents-to-be, residents-already, and faculty? If you had any cojones you would fess up so we could all bow down your Harvard-esce reverence. Please 13, do us all a favor and actually work with the DO's before you label them as inferior. One thing that DO's have is some serious comraderie, and if you haven't noticed it around here or in real life, it does not pay to attack us without real facts to back it up. You sound more like Tom Delay when you speak without facts!!

 

[tkim]

well this thread went downhill fast. closing.